


The Case of the Missing Pilot

by Chikabiddy



Series: LV AU Week 2018 [4]
Category: Veronica Mars (Movie 2014), Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Far Future, LV AU WEEK
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-04 09:34:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14017353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chikabiddy/pseuds/Chikabiddy
Summary: This fic was written for LV AU Week, Day 5 Another Time Period. This is a future fic where Veronica is a Detective and Logan is in the Military.





	The Case of the Missing Pilot

**Author's Note:**

> Title is terrible, sorry. I'm sick, and I spent all my creative juices on writing the story with nothing left for the title (titles are my weakest point, to begin with, too). Sorry!

Beep… Beep… the incessant noise of her alarm pulled her from dreamless sleep. Veronica rubbed grogginess form her eyes and double tapped her wrist. A holographic projection of the alarm shone in front of her: ‘urgent request re: high command. presence requested at Neptune command center immediately. please respond’

Veronica tapped back her acknowledgement and jumped out of bed. The command center had used her services before, but a request like this was unusual and more than a little exciting. Sergeant First Class Lamb, the Commanding Officer of the Neptune command center, had not been coy in his dislike of her and she was quite interested to see what prompted this summons. A light twinge in her stomach reminded her such a situation had to be dire, motivating her to throw her nearest body suit on and rush from her apartment.

It was just past 4 am, and the air was already buzzing with the beginnings of a new day. Those without the ease of wealth, Veronica included, trudged through the dark underbelly of the city to use the public transportation tubes. The rich did what history knew they would and took to the skies; pooling their combined wealth they slipped the surly bonds of earth to the tops of the towers. Anyone who lived below level 50 was considered gutter trash, and the higher you lived the greater your status. You know how it goes.

Making her way into the tubes, Veronica found the private line going direct to the command center. She held her wrist, hoping Lamb had processed the special request which would give her access to this line. A green light signaled her approval; she slipped into the chamber, settling into the single seat and strapping up the harness. Her singular comfort was the tubes for the command center were kept pristine and updated, so while the ride would be as uncomfortable as every at least it would be safe. A soft, chirpy voice welcomed her by name and announced the destination and imminent departure and Veronica jammed closed her eyes. She’d always hated traveling by tube. The chamber jerked into motion, a similar feel to that of an elevator but with much greater power and speed. Veronica dug her fingers into her arms and took deep, calming breaths. The tubes were a nasty was to travel, but they were fast, and the chamber soon came to a halt.

“We’ve arrived at your destination,” declared the chirpy voice. “Please exit the chamber and ensure you have all your personal belongings with you.”

Veronica unbuckled her harness and used to the sides of the chamber to balance herself as she rose to her feet; shaky legs were a common after effect of tube travel.

“I bet Commander Lamb never has to take the tubes,” Veronica grumbled.

Once she was certain her legs would hold her, she moved form the chamber and into the travel bay of the command center. High command had summoned her, so she was not surprised when a fidgety man with an outdated mustache came up to her immediately requesting she follow him.

“Sergeant Sacks.” He held out a hand in introduction. “You’re to follow me, Ms. Mars.”

“I prefer Detective. I didn’t spend years in training for nothing, after all.”

“The command doesn’t recognize the private sector Ms. Mars,” he offered in explanation, but softened it with an apologetic smile.

Veronica understood, he was telling her there was a company line to follow and that was the best she would get. With a curt nod she followed a step behind the Sergeant mulling over the development. Generally, those she’d worked with before had no problem addressing her as a detective, but she’d never worked in an official capacity. Usually she’d solve the cases privately and deliver the solid case file to the right department in the command, and therefore she hadn’t been in a situation where the party line had to be stated. It grated at her that the command thought she was good enough to bring in for this emergency, but not good enough to give her credit for the work she did to become a qualified detective. But the command was run by the highest bidder, and the private sector was free to investigate how they liked. Obviously, that didn’t set to well with the ruling class.

Shaking off her frustration, Veronica squared her shoulders and prepared for a fight. If they wanted her help, they would have to make some concessions. Addressing her appropriately would be the first one. Sergeant Sacks stopped near a room Veronica had never seen before, turning toward her.

“The Council of High Command is through here.” His face was grave, lips pulled down lightly at the corners. She looked at him, he seemed to want to say more. He opened his mouth, then closed it with a shake of his head and scanned his wrist. The door slid up and the Sergeant nodded toward the opening. “After you, Ms. Mars.”

She walked confidently into the room and stopped short. Momentarily, her eyes widened, and she had to stifle and exclamation of surprise before she regained her stoic composure. There were no other people in the room, rather 7 vaguely transparent holograms. Directly in front of her on the ground was a lighted circle. She knew enough about modern technology to know that was a hologram circle. Moving forward, she planted herself in the center and faced the holographic images of the Council. One of the images stepped forward.

“Ms. Mars –” he began. Veronica held up a hand and cut him off.

“Let me stop you right there.” She clasped her hands behind her back, rolling her shoulders. “You summoned me here, so let’s be clear. If you want my involvement, which you clearly do, you’ll respect my rank. It’s Detective Mars, or I walk right back out that door. It’s a mutual respect thing, you understand.”

The holograms were silent, casting glances between one another, before focus returned to her. She knew they were trying to gauge how serious she was, and apparently, they decided.

“ _Detective_ Mars,” he began again, disdain apparent in how he pronounced her rank. “A situation has developed inside command which, unfortunately, requires outside assistance.”

Veronica remained silent, studying each hologram to determine just with whom she was working. ‘Council’ was all well and good, but she wanted names and associations. Not vague references to shadowy powers. The corner of her mouth dipped down as she realized only one member of the council held any military rank: a General and Army if she wasn’t mistaken. That meant the rest of the Council was made of civilians, and that was an unwelcome revelation to Veronica. She focused back on the words the first hologram was speaking.

“One of our pilots has gone missing. His location and mission were both highly secret, meaning either he took off voluntarily or we are compromised. Either way is problematic, but on the chance he did not choose to leave we cannot have the investigation done by anyone in command. Given your history with detective work, the Council has decided to hire you on a temporary basis. We guarantee your compensation will be satisfactory, but your discretion is required should you accept.”

Another hologram spoke up, a tall woman with a bird-like face. “You can understand the potential consequence of the command center being compromised. It is essential knowledge of this investigation does not get out.”

Veronica could imagine the panic and hysteria in the lower 50 levels if the absolute authority of the command center came into question. As much as she detested the power structure in Neptune, the ensuing chaos would be worse. She nodded her understanding.

“I’ll need to bring my people in; one for sure and two others depending how the investigation develops. I don’t want that to be a concern later on should it become necessary.”

“You agree to investigate?” the first man said, more surprised than Veronica would have supposed considering they requested her.

“Of course, she agrees,” the woman snapped. “She understands what is at stake here.”

“I have other conditions,” Veronica added. They needed to understand who they were working with as well as she understood the situation.

“As do we,” the woman replied.

The door behind Veronica opened and she turned her head to see the face of a man she never thought she’d see again. His eyes met hers and she could see her own confusion reflected there. Veronica faced toward the holograms again, hoping they hadn’t noticed her discomfort.

“This is Lieutenant Echolls, brought in from another command center.” The first man gestured toward the door. “He will be your liaison with us and assist you with the investigation in any way necessary. All the information you need, he can provide.”

“If there’s nothing else, we have other important matters to attend to,” said the woman.

“Actually, there is.” Veronica wasn’t going to let them have the last word. “I don’t work with people I don’t know. I want the names of everyone on the Council. Once I know who I am working with I will let Lieutenant Echolls know whether I will take your case or not.”

“Ms… _Detective_ Mars, I’m sure you can understand why we require anon–”

Veronica felt almost giddy at the chance to interrupt again. “It’s non-negotiable. I’ll let you talk among yourselves. Decide just how serious you are about getting this case solved and have Lieutenant Echolls here find me when you do.”

She spun on her heel and walked through the door, not sparing a glance for _Lieutenant Echolls_ as she did. Once they caved, Logan (Lieutenant Echolls now) would find her and they could talk in relative privacy. Until then, she was grateful for the chance to process seeing Logan again after all this time. Hopefully she’d be more composed when he located her.

Sergeant Sacks was outside the door, hovering awkwardly, and Veronica requested he lead her to a waiting area. She settled into one of the uncomfortably designed chairs, closing her eyes and letting her mind wander. The last time she’d seen Logan… well he’d thrown the son of a prominent ruling family across the courtyard for distributing a sex tape of her. Finding out just how he’d gotten his hands on that holograph had done a lot of damage, to everyone she cared about, so she took off. Left behind everything until she got what she needed to and came back to bring the whole family to their knees. By that time, though, Logan was long gone, and she resisted the urge to track him down. Mostly.

She researched enough to make sure she wasn’t too late, that he hadn’t ended up dead at the hands of the Sorokins, but she really did try to respect his privacy beyond that point. Discovering he went military was not terribly surprising given his wealth. His rank, however, was a surprise. Generally, anyone with money can buy straight in general or admiral rank and skip the grunt work. She wanted nothing more than to ask why he hadn’t done the same, but she wasn’t sure it was her place anymore. It had been almost 10 years, after all.

“Veronica.”

She still got butterflies when he said her name. That was a fun revelation. Popping her eyes open she regarded him warily, unsure of her footing. She decided to go with levity and cracked her lips into a grin.

“That’s Detective Mars, to you.”

His lips twitched up and she saw the laugh in his eyes. “We’ve decided to be formal this time, I take it?”

“Formality means I’m taking this seriously, Lieutenant. Isn’t that what the Council wants?”

He regarded her hard for a moment, as if reading her intent, and Veronica wasn’t quite sure what he saw.

“They decided to give you their names. I’m sure you expected they would.”

It seemed he decided to take the situation seriously; what that meant she couldn’t guess. So, she just nodded, telling him what he already knew without needing to speak. The longer she looked at him the more she keenly felt just how much she missed him, and she didn’t trust her tongue not to betray that knowledge.

“I’ve missed you.”

Her eyes widened in shock and she was pretty sure her heart stopped beating. Maybe he wasn’t taking the situation too seriously after all. It took a second for her lungs to remember how to work again and she realized he was staring at her expectantly. It had been a second too long apparently.

“I’ve missed you too,” she breathed out.

His relief was evident and the hard lines on his face softened ever so slightly.

“You aren’t wrong. The Council wants this to be entirely formal. I propose, then, that you and I wrap up quickly here and go somewhere for drinks. It’s hard to catch up with the watchful eyes of the Council expecting us to stay on topic.”

“Let’s get started then. Getting treated to after work drinks is what makes all this worth it.”

“Who said I was treating?”

“Your bank account.”

Logan laughed his delightful full belly laugh and Veronica melted a little. This was going to be a very interesting case.


End file.
